Palin recently returned to the campaign trail after a visit back to Alaska.

CARSON CITY, Nevada (CNN) - Sarah Palin's reputation for rarely deviating from a scripted stump speech as she travels from city to city is not entirely accurate.

She’s open to changing a few lines here and there - depending on the audience.

Consider her speech Saturday in Nevada, site of the proposed Yucca Mountain Repository, a controversial project that would store radioactive waste in Nevadans’ backyard. At nearly every campaign stop over the last two weeks, Palin has touted McCain’s plan to expand nuclear energy, including storage and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.

“In a McCain-Palin administration, we’re going to expand nuclear energy, expand our use of alternative fuels, and drill now to make this nation energy independent,” she said to cheers last week in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.

But in Carson City, where the Yucca issue hits closer to home, that remark about expanding nuclear energy disappeared.

Palin also gave a pair of modified stump speeches during her recent Welcome Home tour through Alaska that failed to mention the notorious Gravina Island Bridge, subject of her usual applause line on the campaign trail that “I told the Congress ‘thanks but no thanks’ for that Bridge to Nowhere."

The Alaska governor routinely cites her opposition to the bridge on the trail to reinforce her reformer reputation, but fact-check groups and the Obama campaign have noted out that Palin supported building the bridge before she came out against it.

soundoff(665 Responses)

All politicians do it and I don't blame her. The problem is not the speeches, IT'S THE POLICIES.

WAKE UP AMERICA.

September 14, 2008 01:01 pm at 1:01 pm |

djak

I hear alot of people comment that most people didn't know what the Bush Doctrine was so Ms. Palin should be excused for not knowing it. Well...HELLO...most people are not running for VP of this country. She is a Republican, an elected official, running for the 2nd highest spot in the country. She darned well SHOULD know what it is. And then on top of that, after Charlie Gibson explained what it was, she STILL wouldn't answer the simple question "do you agree with it". No way will McCain get my vote.

September 14, 2008 01:01 pm at 1:01 pm |

Doug

Palin would be so bad for this country – more division and bigger goofs that we can't afford after 8 years of Bush. I'm seriously afraid of this country collapsing if McCain and Palin get in there and make things worse. McCain will be asleep at the wheel and Palin will be banning books, preching her religious rediculousness, and using her inexeperience to make bigger mistakes than Bush did. Be afraid, BE VERY AFRAID OF MCCAIN-PALIN!

September 14, 2008 01:01 pm at 1:01 pm |

The Fly

A liar won't beLIEve anyone else.

September 14, 2008 01:01 pm at 1:01 pm |

If U enjoyed the failure of Jimmy Carter, you'll LOVE Obama

That's right, Obamabots....keep obsessing over Palin......

Change you can what? Fail with?

September 14, 2008 01:01 pm at 1:01 pm |

Sean

She's an empty suit. Can you imagine the Republican uproar if Obama read the same script, sans a few lines, at every event? They'd be like why can't he come up with something new? It's because she's a puppet, reading what her puppet masters write!

September 14, 2008 01:02 pm at 1:02 pm |

McCain/Palin

Clearly the people following Obama don't know the difference between the truth and a lie because if they did they wouldn't be following him.

September 14, 2008 01:02 pm at 1:02 pm |

Gwendolyn H. Barry

I AM SO HAPPY TO FINALLY SEE A TREND IN COMMENTS HERE!
Seems the People are fed up and seeking some fact / issue content in CNN reporting as well as claim to the LIES of the McCain campaign. chanel...nice one! All of you! RHAR! Gives a gal HOPE. Lets a gal think CHANGE can actually happen. YES WE CAN.
and oh,
btw

I'm not an "elitist"!

I am educated!
[Thats ed-U-Kate-ed]

September 14, 2008 01:02 pm at 1:02 pm |

Ephy

Sarah Palin's pregnancy will remain a fake until independent and trustworthy dna tests are performed.
It is becoming crystal clear this woman cannot be trusted.

September 14, 2008 01:03 pm at 1:03 pm |

Kay

I can honestly see how G.Bush got TWO terms in the white house.
Republicans lie their socks off....and i'm really sorry to say.... their supporters are mainly Brain dead!

September 14, 2008 01:03 pm at 1:03 pm |

kaydeedee, nashville

Our allies (those few we still have after the Bush regime) must be extremely nervous that "bomb-bomb-bomb-Iran" McCain could soon be the next US president. And quaking in their boots at the thought that Sarah "never blink" Palin would have a 3-to-1 chance of taking over the highest office in this nation. I know I am.

September 14, 2008 01:04 pm at 1:04 pm |

Kelly

So if she is changing up her canned speech, will she be mentioning that she was for the Bridge to Nowhere before it wan't vogue to be in favor it AND she kept the money even though she changed her mind?

Will she be talking about how she never really went to Iraq and only saw its border?

Will she talk about how she thinks it is "God's plan" for us to fighting in Iraq? (Never realized God was an Imperialist. Go figure)

Bored now.

File her under: Fire, Pants On.

September 14, 2008 01:04 pm at 1:04 pm |

facts are facts

The religious nuts are out in full force as it was Robson and Perkins who forced McCain to except Sara Palin.

Imagine people leading America who are against sex eductation for children and would rather have them believe babies are delivered by storks and women get pregnant from sitting on a dirty toilet seat.

McCain has stated his goal is to get the whole world to accept religious freedom and Palin claims the Iraq war is a holy war done on behalf of God at God's will.

These two idiots are a real threat to America as the world won't put up with their lunacy. The world is a big place and America is just a small part of it and will never be able to conquer everyone they perceive as an enemy. Diplomacy and tolerance are America's only chance.

September 14, 2008 01:04 pm at 1:04 pm |

L. MIAMI, FLORIDA

HEY MRS. PIT BULL,

WOULD YOU PLEASE GO HOME AND TAKE CARE OF YOUR KIDS .

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH !

2 MORE MONTHS ! 2 MORE MONTHS ! 2 MORE MONTHS !

NO MORE AWOL BUSH ! NO MORE OLD MACSHAME !

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OBAMA / BIDEN

September 14, 2008 01:04 pm at 1:04 pm |

Big D

It is so upsetting how Palin and McCain lie over and over through this campaign. They lie, then repeat the lie even after it's been debunked. They lie about trivial things that wouldn't have made a difference. They lie to smear Obama, and they lie to show how mavericky they are. And yet I hear people saying that Palin is admirable! I hear people saying that her performance in the Gibson interview was just fine, because they couldn't have done better themselves. Don't we hold someone a heartbeat from the presidency to a higher standard!?!? Shouldn't the comparison be to the other condenders for VP? If her performance was subpar compared to how they would likely do, then what does that tell us about McCain picking her? It tells me that he didn't take that crucial decision seriously and would rather take a risk than treat our nation's future seriously. And their lie-filled campaign talk tells me that they are not carrying out the integrity that they claimed they would have.

September 14, 2008 01:05 pm at 1:05 pm |

Bri

McCain + Palin= LIARS

September 14, 2008 01:05 pm at 1:05 pm |

Sue Lowrie

Palin is so full of herself that it's almost funny. However, the nation has serious issues that are at stake and we need experienced leaders who also have the humility to take a good look at their own behaviors in making important decisions. Palin seems to lack that as evident by her own distortions and embellishments ..This is not what this country needs right now. Our economy is in peril – people losing their jobs – the war is devastating our military and impacting on their families – the list goes on.... Personally, I'm not interested in Maverick behaviors or overstated resumes... We need change and it's not with the Republican leadership. As an independent woman voter, I don't have confidence in the Palin-McCain ticket... Ohhh... I mis-spoke.., it's the McCain and Palin ticket (but you wouldn't know it)... McCain has truly lost his way and his maverick resume is now highlighted with the the big sell out to the right wing "Conservative Base".
Sue (SC)

September 14, 2008 01:05 pm at 1:05 pm |

NO WAY JOSE!

palin,

why don't you try parading in bikini and stilletto?

that's all you got to show,

and it just might work on redneck know-nothing guys!

September 14, 2008 01:06 pm at 1:06 pm |

Charlotte

Obama does that also, it is called politics. Why would you say things that don't apply to a certain group of people. Unless, like Obama, you don't know they are listening.

September 14, 2008 01:06 pm at 1:06 pm |

Peter

Why is this a news?

Go McCain/Palin!

September 14, 2008 01:06 pm at 1:06 pm |

SC

"STRATEGY" and "LIE" are not the same.

September 14, 2008 01:07 pm at 1:07 pm |

JAZZYLADY

Teresa I totally agree with your opinion. I, too, believe that Palin is going to find an excuse to leave office so that McCain can pick another more suitable running mate. He obviously picked this VP. He is not stupid. But, he seems to think most Americans are stupid. There is no way that he is going to continue to share the lime light with Palin. It is quite apparent according to her interviews that she really thinks differently from McCain. He really doesn't know who she is and what she stands for. I don't think McCain can be trusted. He seems to think that he is entitled to become president. Maybe he thinks we owe him for the time he spend as a prisoner of war.

September 14, 2008 01:07 pm at 1:07 pm |

Aaron in Cali

New bumper sticker:

"You can't spell Palin with P-A-I-N"

September 14, 2008 01:07 pm at 1:07 pm |

Bill Stapp

And she wants to go to war with a nuclear super-power. I saw the TV mini-series. It was titled "World War III"

I suggest that the United States can no longer afford both miliary conflicts abroad, and social security payments at home. Senior citizens should consider which of those options they prefer to have their grandchildren pay for.